KR20070098013A - Plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A plasma display panel is provided to generate a uniform discharge on an overall surface of the PDP(Plasma Display Panel) by regulating the thickness of address electrodes corresponding to respective discharge cells. A plasma display panel includes a front substrate(190), a rear substrate(110), a barrier rib(140), plural address electrodes(120), and plural sustain electrodes. The address electrodes are elongated over the rear substrate. The barrier rib partitions the space between the front and rear substrates into plural discharge cells. The sustain electrodes are elongated over the front substrate. The sustain electrodes include first and second sustain electrodes, which are arranged to cross the address electrodes at positions corresponding to the discharge cells. The thickness of the address electrode corresponding to one of the discharge cells is different from the thickness of the address electrode corresponding to another discharge cell.

Description

Plasma display panel {Plasma display panel}

1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view illustrating an I-I cross section of the plasma display panel of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view illustrating adjusting thicknesses of address electrodes corresponding to first and last discharge cells in the plasma display panel of FIG. 1.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts in the drawings>

110: back substrate 120: address electrode

130: lower dielectric layer 140: partition wall

150: discharge cell 150a: first discharge cell

150b: end discharge cell 152: phosphor layer

152a: red phosphor layer 152b: green phosphor layer

152c: blue phosphor layer 154: discharge space

160: protective film 170: upper dielectric layer

182: first sustain electrode 184: second sustain electrode

190: front substrate

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel in which a positive light column region can be used for light emission in order to obtain high brightness and high efficiency.

Plasma display panel, which is one of the flat panel display devices, is composed of discharge cells capable of independently discharging and independently discharges discharge cells according to an externally applied electrical signal to reproduce a predetermined image. Since the plasma display panel can be manufactured to a thickness of 1 cm or less, the plasma display panel can significantly reduce the thickness and weight compared to the CRT, and has a merit of securing a wide viewing angle compared to a liquid crystal display. .

A plasma display panel is a device that displays letters and shapes mainly by using visible light from which ultraviolet rays generated from glow discharge stimulate photoluminescence phosphors. There are two types of plasma display panels, a DC type and an AC type. AC type has better brightness and luminance efficiency than DC type.

Many studies have been conducted to improve the efficiency of the plasma display panel, and studies on improving the efficiency of the plasma display panel having a narrow gap between the sustain electrodes causing the discharge have reached its limit. Therefore, new structures and new driving methods are actively being researched. In particular, it has been known that panel efficiency can be improved by generating a positive column by inducing discharge between sustain electrodes in a plasma display having a large distance between sustain electrodes causing discharge.

However, when the interval between sustain electrodes causing discharge is wide in order to obtain such a positive beam discharge, there is a problem in that the discharge start voltage and the discharge sustain voltage become high.

In order to solve this problem, by applying the voltage pulses applied to the first and second sustain electrodes overlapping, a negative potential is sequentially applied to the first and second sustain electrodes, thereby generating a discharge start voltage and There has been proposed a method of increasing the light emission efficiency by the positive pole discharge generated in a wide electrode interval by using a method of lowering the discharge sustain voltage.

In more detail, a negative electrode is applied to the first or second sustain electrode so that a discharge is initiated between the third electrode (address electrode) initially facing the first sustain electrode or between the second electrode and the third electrode. Afterwards, it is diffused along the third electrode to finally cause a main discharge by the positive column between the wide first electrode and the second electrode. Therefore, the discharge generated by this method is divided into an induction discharge for inducing the main discharge and a main discharge by the positive pole.

In order to improve the discharge efficiency of the panel by actually applying this method, the relative intensity ratio of the induced discharge and the main discharge must be properly formed. However, since induction discharge is a low efficiency discharge in a negative glow region, when the intensity of the induction discharge is too strong, even if the main discharge is generated by the positive liquor discharge, the overall efficiency of the panel cannot be expected. On the contrary, when the induced discharge is too weak, the main discharge caused by the bright wine cannot be induced properly.

In order to induce the main discharge efficiently by forming an inductive discharge of an appropriate intensity, the dielectric constant of the dielectric covering the first and second sustain electrodes and the characteristics of the magnesium oxide (MgO) protective film, the dielectric constant covering the third electrode and the phosphor Should be controlled and controlled. The material properties of these elements, however, are related to many fixed variables and the properties of the material itself and are very difficult to control. In addition, even with such a method, the problem that the discharge start voltage and the discharge sustain voltage are still higher than that of the plasma display panel with a narrow gap between the sustain electrodes is not solved.

In the present invention, in the plasma display panel, a positive beam is generated between sustain electrodes which cause discharge, but the thickness is different depending on the position of the screen in order to lower the discharge start voltage and the discharge sustain voltage and improve the uniformity of the image quality of the entire screen. A plasma display panel including an address electrode having the same is provided.

The present invention is a front substrate and back substrate facing each other; A partition wall dividing a space between the front substrate and the rear substrate into a plurality of discharge cells; A plurality of address electrodes extending along the rear substrate; And a plurality of pairs of sustain electrodes extending along the front substrate, intersecting the address electrodes at portions corresponding to the discharge cells, and comprising first and second sustain electrodes spaced apart from each other to cause a discharge. A plasma display panel is disclosed in which a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell is different from a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to at least one other discharge cell.

In the present invention, the plasma display panel utilizes light emission of a positive column region, and the emission of the positive column region is an induction discharge between the first sustain electrode or the second sustain electrode and the address electrode, and the inductive discharge is initiated. The light may be diffused along the address electrode to cause light emission of the positive column region between the first and second sustain electrodes.

In the present invention, the thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell and the thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell may be formed to be 3 μm or less for uniform discharge.

In the present invention, the at least one discharge cell includes at least one discharge cell of the first discharge cell at which the discharge starts and the last discharge cell at which the discharge last occurs, the discharge corresponding to both address electrodes of the plasma display panel. In the case of forming the cells or the address electrodes with the same thickness, the discharge start voltage and the like can be higher. By forming the thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell thicker than the address electrode corresponding to the at least one other discharge cell, the discharge start voltage can be lowered to improve the uniformity of the image quality of the entire screen. .

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred embodiment of the present invention; In the following description, when a component is described as being on top of another component, it may be directly on top of another component, and a third component may be interposed therebetween. In addition, in the drawings, the thickness or size of each component is exaggerated for convenience and clarity, and the same reference numerals in the drawings refer to the same element. On the other hand, the terms used are used only for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are not used to limit the scope of the invention described in the meaning or claims.

1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, and particularly shows a part of an AC plasma display panel having a wide electrode gap.

Referring to FIG. 1, an AC plasma display panel includes a discharge cell 150 having a plurality of discharge cells between a rear substrate 110 and a front substrate 190. In order to cause the discharge in the discharge cell 150, the first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 are disposed above, and the address electrode 120 is disposed below. The address electrode 120 is disposed on the rear substrate 110, and a lower dielectric layer 130 that electrically separates the address electrode 120 from the discharge cells 150 is disposed on the upper side of the address electrode 120 and the rear substrate 110. Is placed.

The first and second storage electrodes 182 and 184 are disposed on the lower surface of the front substrate 190 on the discharge cell 150, and the first and second storage electrodes 182 and 184 are formed of a transparent electrode material. (Indium Tin Oxide: ITO). One of the first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 becomes a scan electrode used for addressing weak discharge. An upper dielectric layer 170 is formed under the first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 and the front substrate 190, and may be generally formed of lead oxide (PbO).

The passivation layer 160 is formed under the upper dielectric layer 170, and the passivation layer 160 may be generally formed of magnesium oxide (MgO). The protective layer 160 serves to protect the upper dielectric layer 170 from sputtering of ions, and also has a characteristic of a relatively high secondary electron generation coefficient when low ion energy strikes the surface during plasma discharge of the plasma display panel. It plays an important role in lowering the driving and holding voltages.

The discharge cell 150 includes the phosphor layer 152 and the discharge space 154, and each discharge cell 150, that is, the unit cell is separated through the partition wall 140. In the portion corresponding to each discharge cell 150, the address electrode 120 and the pair of first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 intersect with each other. The phosphor layer 152 is divided into three types, a red phosphor layer 152a, a green phosphor layer 152b, and a blue phosphor layer 152c. Three phosphor layers 152a, 152b, Three adjacent discharge cells 150 each including one of 152c constitute one unit pixel.

In the AC plasma display panel according to the present embodiment, first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 having a wide interval are formed and use light emission in a positive column region. In general, the wider electrode spacing is the thickness of the sum of the lower dielectric layer 130 and the partition wall 140 or the spacing of the first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 than the spacing between the address electrodes 120 in the sustain electrodes 182 or 184. This means bigger.

In the present embodiment, the sum of the thicknesses d ₁ of the lower dielectric layer 130 and the partition wall 140 is about 125 μm, and the distance d ₂ between the first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184 is about 440 μm. Can be. On the other hand, the width d ₃ of the sustain electrodes 182 and 184 is about 390 μm, and the width d ₄ of the address electrode 120 is about 80 μm. This size may vary depending on the size of the plasma display panel and the waveform applied to the electrode.

In order to obtain a required image from the 3-electrode surface discharge plasma display panel, the discharge cells 150 constituting the required image must be turned on. In order to discharge each of the discharge cells 150, surface discharge must be performed between the first and second sustain electrodes 182 and 184. In a plasma display panel having a wide electrode gap, the gap between the first and second sustain electrodes is wide. The discharge does not easily occur, and accordingly, the discharge start voltage must be high for smooth discharge.

However, since the voltage start voltage is high, discharge is unlikely to occur, and the voltage margin of the discharge cell is insufficient. In particular, the first discharge cell at which discharge starts and the last discharge cell at which discharge last occurs have very little discharge margin, which causes a problem of not being properly discharged in some images.

In order to solve such a problem, in the present embodiment, the thickness of the address electrode 120 corresponding to each discharge cell 150 is adjusted. Hereinafter, with reference to Figures 2a and 2b will be described in detail.

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the I-I portion of the plasma display panel of FIG. 1 showing the address electrode 120 corresponding to the discharge cell 150 in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the address electrode 120 is formed under the phosphor layer 152, and is separated from the phosphor layer 152 by the lower dielectric layer 130 as described above.

In general, the thickness t ₁ of the address electrode 120 is uniformly formed with respect to all the discharge cells 150. Since the address electrode 120 is made of a material of a conductor, it is natural that the thickness of the address electrode 120 itself decreases as the thickness thereof increases. Therefore, by increasing the thickness of the address electrode 120 to lower the resistance, the electric field of the address electrode for driving the surface discharge between the sustain electrodes is increased, so that the wall charges can be accumulated slightly during the addressing weak discharge.

Thus, when more wall charges are generated by adjusting the thickness t ₁ of the address electrode 120, dissipation may occur accordingly. As a result, according to the structure of the plasma display panel, the discharge may be smoothly generated by adjusting the thickness of the address electrode 120 corresponding to the discharge cell in which the discharge hardly occurs.

In general, in the case of the first discharge cell at the start of discharge and the last discharge cell at the last, the voltage is low or the capacitance is low in the structural aspect of the plasma display panel, so that discharge does not occur smoothly. Such a problem can be solved by reducing the thickness of the address electrode 120 of the first discharge cell and the last discharge cell.

In numerical terms, the thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the first discharge cell and the end discharge cell is made thicker than 3 占 퐉 to be less than the average thickness of the address electrode to lower the discharge sustain voltage, thereby reducing the first discharge cell and the end discharge. The discharge in the cell can be generated smoothly. On the other hand, the thickness of the address electrodes of the first discharge cell and the last discharge cell may be reduced, in which case the driving method is an erase method rather than a general write method.

Although the first discharge cell and the end discharge cell have been described as an example, the method of adjusting the thickness of the address electrode can be applied to only one discharge cell according to the characteristics of the plasma display panel, and the discharge is not limited to the first and end discharge cells. Of course, it can be applied to other parts of the discharge cell not to improve the discharge efficiency. In addition, for convenience of manufacturing, the thicknesses of the address electrodes 120 at both ends of the plasma display panel may be adjusted collectively.

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view illustrating adjusting thicknesses of address electrodes corresponding to first and last discharge cells in the plasma display panel of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the discharge cells at both ends, that is, the first discharge cell 150a and the end discharge cell 150b, correspond to the thickness t ₁ of the address electrode 120 corresponding to the discharge cell 150 in the center portion. It can be seen that the thicknesses t ₁₁ and t ₁₂ of the address electrode 120 are formed to be thick.

In general, when the average thickness t ₁ of the address electrodes 120 is 5 μm, the thickness t ₁₁ , t ₁₂ of the address electrodes 120 corresponding to the discharge cells 150a and 150b at both ends is 6 to 7 μm. It is preferable to form to an extent. On the other hand, in the case of the erase method can be formed of about 3 to 4 ㎛ of course. Meanwhile, although the thicknesses t ₁₁ and t ₁₂ of the address electrodes corresponding to the discharge cells 150a and 150b at both ends may be formed in the same manner, they may be formed differently.

The present invention can smoothly generate discharge at both ends of the discharge cells by adjusting the thickness of the portion where the discharge is not smooth, in particular, the address electrodes corresponding to the discharge cells at both ends, thereby making it possible to easily discharge the entire plasma display panel. Can be. Accordingly, the entire discharge occurs evenly, and the display quality of the image can be improved. That is, when the discharge of the first discharge cell occurs well, the discharge condition is also advantageous for the next discharge cell, and when the discharge of the end discharge cell is smooth, the discharge is uniform as a whole and the display quality can be improved.

So far, the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, which are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. will be. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

The plasma display panel according to the present invention reduces the sustaining voltage by adjusting the thickness of discharge cells in which discharge is not smooth, in particular, discharge cells at both ends, thereby reducing the wide electrode spacing that can utilize light emission in the positive light region. It is possible to easily implement an alternating current plasma display panel.

In addition, the plasma display panel according to the present invention can improve the image display quality by making the discharge of the entire plasma display panel uniform by adjusting the discharge sustain voltage by adjusting the thickness of the address electrode corresponding to each discharge cell.

Claims (11)

A front substrate and a back substrate facing each other; A partition wall dividing a space between the front substrate and the rear substrate into a plurality of discharge cells; A plurality of address electrodes extending along the rear substrate; And A plurality of pairs of sustain electrodes extending along the front substrate, intersecting the address electrodes at portions corresponding to the discharge cells, and having a plurality of first and second sustain electrodes spaced apart from each other to cause a discharge; And a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell is different from a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to at least one other discharge cell. According to claim 1, And said plasma display panel uses light emission in a positive column region. The method of claim 2, The distance between the address electrode and the first or second sustain electrode is 125 ㎛, The interval between the first sustain electrode and the second sustain electrode is 440㎛ plasma display panel. The method of claim 2, Inductive discharge is initiated between the first sustain electrode or the second sustain electrode and the address electrode, And the inductive discharge is diffused along the address electrode so that light emission of the positive column is generated between the first and second sustain electrodes. According to claim 1, The plasma display panel is an alternating plasma display panel. According to claim 1, And a difference between a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell and a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one other discharge cell is 3 μm or less. The method of claim 6, And the at least one discharge cell is at least one of a first discharge cell at which the discharge starts and an end discharge cell at which the discharge last occurs. The method of claim 6, And the at least one discharge cell is discharge cells corresponding to both end address electrodes of the plasma display panel. The method of claim 6, And said at least one discharge cell is a discharge cell having a higher discharge start voltage when forming address electrodes of the same thickness. The method according to any one of claims 7, 8 and 9, And an address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell is thicker than an address electrode corresponding to the at least one other discharge cell. The method of claim 6, The thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one discharge cell is 6 to 7 ㎛ or 3 to 4 ㎛, And a thickness of the address electrode corresponding to the at least one other discharge cell is 5 μm.

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